1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a living body observation system and a method of driving the living body observation system, and more particularly to a living body observation system including a power source section composed of a battery or the like and a method of driving the living body observation system.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, endoscopes have been widely used in the medical field or the like. Endoscopes in the medical field, in particular, are used for the purpose of observing inside of a living body. One type of the endoscopes described above is a capsule endoscope developed in recent years, which is swallowed by a test subject to be disposed in a body cavity, and capable of picking up images of a photographic subject while moving in the body cavity with peristaltic movement and wirelessly transmitting the picked-up images of the photographic subject to outside as image pickup signals.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-224553 discloses an apparatus having substantially the same functions as those of the capsule endoscope described above.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-224553 describes a capsule endoscope having a configuration in which a reed switch with contacts that open when placed in a magnetic field is used as a non-contact power source switch. The capsule endoscope described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-224553 is configured such that, due to the working of the above-described reed switch, the contacts of the reed switch open to turn off the power source of the endoscope when the endoscope is stored in a container or a storage case having a magnet, and the contacts close to turn on the power source (power is supplied from a battery) of the endoscope when the endoscope is taken out of the container or the storage case, for example.